Montreal Canadiens Tell CRTC They Oppose Loss Of Anglo Sports Format In Bell-Astral Deal

Endangered

The waning moments of the comment period for the sale of the ASTRAL MEDIA radio stations to BELL MEDIA drew a response from the NHL's MONTREAL CANADIENS, who told the CRTC that while the team is in favor of the establishment of a French-language all-Sports format in MONTREAL, the team is against it happening at the expense of the loss of the present English-language Sports format on BELL's Sports CKGM-A (TSN RADIO 990).  The MONTREAL GAZETTE's MIKE BOONE reports that HABS EVP/COO KEVIN GILMORE proposed that BELL be granted an exemption to allow it to operate Sports stations in both languages.

CANADIENS games moved to TSN RADIO 990 last season after decades on ASTRAL's Talk CJAD-A, and have moved back to CJAD with the pending deal that has BELL converting the station from English to French and moving it to the open 690 AM frequency formerly occupied by RADIO-CANADA's CBF-A and, later, by the now-defunct CINF-A.

The proposed C$3.4 billion deal for BELL to acquire ASTRAL has drawn much opposition, including a campaign created by media competitors COGECO, QUEBECOR, and EASTLINK, who launched an online petition to stop the deal.

Comments are due at the CRTC TODAY by 8p (ET).

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